Commission to consider pay cuts for lawmakers

LEGISLATURE Panel considers reduction for lawmakers equal to that of state workers

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Commission to consider pay cuts for lawmakers

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

A commission of California residents will consider slashing state legislators' pay today, just one year after it significantly reduced their salaries from an all-time high of $116,208. Lawmakers' new pay may drop as low as $85,762 a year under a plan being considered by the California Citizens Compensation Commission, which sets pay and benefits for legislators and other elected state officials.

The decision comes a day after the Legislature missed its Tuesday deadline to pass a state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The state has a 12.6 percent unemployment rate and a $19 billion budget deficit, and the Republican governor and Democratic-controlled Legislature have been haggling over how to plug that staggering deficit gap.

Latest news videos

"We have a budgetary problem and it's our job to see if there is any way we can save money," said Commission Chairman Chuck Murray of the proposed legislative pay cut.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed reducing state workers' pay and making deep cuts to most public programs, including elimination of the welfare-to-work program and most child care subsidies. Democrats have countered with plans that include some tax increases and borrowing.

The meeting of the seven-member commission in Sacramento this morning also comes as the Legislature faces its worst approval ratings ever: a March Field Poll showed that just 13 percent of voters approving of the job lawmakers are doing.

Most California lawmakers are paid $95,291and most receive an extra $141.86 per diem for living expenses - such as paying for a second home - each day they are in session. Prior to last year's 18 percent pay reduction, lawmakers took home $116,208 a year; their per diem pay and benefits were also reduced by about 8 percent in December. Leaders of both parties make slightly more. Lawmakers also receive car allowances: Assembly members can collect $328 a month and Senate members $500.

Created by voters

The commission was created by voters in 1990 to take pay-setting ability out of the hands of lawmakers. It is made up of people appointed by the governor. Last year, voters approved a measure that prohibits it from increasing pay during years where there is a budget deficit.

Murray said the group will consider up to a 10 percent pay cut for legislators because the governor is proposing that state workers take a 5 percent pay cut and take a mandatory furlough day a month starting July 1, which would effectively slash their pay by another 5 percent. He also plans to propose a cut to car allowances.

Last year's cuts, Murray said, were based on the amount of pay most state workers lost this fiscal year because of the governor's three-day-a-month furlough program.

"It's a place marker, a place to start discussions," Murray said of the 10 percent figure. "When I started, California senators and Assembly members were being paid almost twice as much as any other legislator in any other state."

But at least one former legislator, former Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti - the Republican who pushed for the commission's creation - said this week that the panel should not continue to chip away at lawmakers' salaries. He worries that more cuts will discourage people from running for office unless they are independently wealthy, especially because lawmakers no longer receive pensions or retirement benefits.

"What middle-class person would want to run for office here? Little by little this is happening," he said. "I don't think that's what the framers of even the federal Constitution were contemplating: a Legislature run by aristocrats. We're inching toward that."

Bargaining chip

Legislative leaders, who declined to comment for this story, have accused the governor of using the commission's power as a bargaining chip in the fight over the budget. Roberti echoed that concern, saying that the original idea was to take the pay-setting power out of the hands of politicians, not to allow "one set of political appointees or politicians to judge another set," as he said appears to be happening.

"When the commission gave legislators their first significant jump in pay (in 1994), they said one of the reasons was that there were no longer pensions," he said. "The commission should be looking at the compensation level in a detached fashion, not as an advocate for policy in one way or another. ... They shouldn't be an agency which approves or disapproves of their conduct."

Commission members and the governor's office insist that the panel is acting independently, and simply responding to the budget crisis.

Murray said he is sensitive to the concern that lowering pay too much could deter people from running for office. But he said the state's dismal financial situation is forcing everyone to make sacrifices.

"I have never met the governor, let alone spoken to him - we make our own decisions, and they are very transparent and they are made in public," he said.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.